You Are Not Alone

resources and support for religious and spiritual abuse survivors

[traumatizeddfox]

“it could’ve been worse” ok and it also could’ve not happened to you

[furiousfinnstan]

@stvksn on ig

[krillbeans]

I hope your god has asked for your mercy. I hope youve refused to forgive him.

[qillermeme]

i love this more and more every time i see it.

[thiskindoflifeisalliknow]

I have so much love for this person. The amount of empathy it takes to have these considerations about a person you will never meet, the eloquence and conviction with which they speak, the contempt for landlords. Sometimes I see something someone writes or creates and I wish with everything in me that I could meet and talk to that person for hours about what caused them to be this kind of light in the universe. This is one of those times.

[modern-politics111]

https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/irs-complaint-process-tax-exempt-organizations

3. Nature of violation

Directors/Officers/Persons are using income/assets for personal gain

Organization is engaged in commercial, for-profit business activities

Income/Assets are being used to support illegal or terrorist activities

Organization is involved in a political campaign

Organization is engaged in excessive lobbying activities

Organization refused to disclose or provide a copy of Form 990

Organization failed to report employment, income or excise tax liability properly

Organization failed to file required federal tax returns and forms

Organization engaged in deceptive or improper fundraising practices

Other (describe)

[lostsometime]

to simplify: churches are forbidden to promote specific political parties or candidates, in order to maintain tax-exempt status.  no religious institution is allowed to make explicit political statements, including “this party is bad,” “this party is good,” “you should vote for x,” “you should not vote for x,” or “let’s raise money for x political party or campaign.”  all of those things are super illegal!  if they’re going to act as a political entity, they need to pay taxes like any other political entity!  report their asses!!!!

[ms-cellanies]

MAKE THIS GO VIRAL - REBLOG IT ….. REPEATEDLY

[cricketcat9]

My American followers, please do your part

[depsidase]

[witchesversuspatriarchy]

The revolution will not be televised - it will be Tiktok’d

[pasta-is-magnificent]

They can do this bc to remain tax exempt a church cannot host politically weighted masses or distribute political messages IIRC.

So if your church pastor says to his congregation that “you can’t be christian if you support [political party]” or if one party or the other is blessed or maligned by god then they’ll have to start paying taxes.

[juicetrump2]

[partisan-by-default]

(x) and a bit more detail:

[parlezvousladybug]

A whooooooole lot of evangelical places should get shut down

[merisms]

Patreon and Ko-Fi are both live and linked in my pinned post! Included in the pics above are the list of topic options, and a small snippet of the research papers posted in the studies channel.

These researched questions will be posted on this blog, people may still ask me questions without donating, and people are still more than welcome to ask me for specific papers / books per /library. Becoming a Patron will allow you to have access to all these things without having to individually ask for them, get involved in livestream events, ask me private questions, get early access to posts, and other perks listed. Whereas Ko-Fi is for one-off donations for those who don’t quite want the commitment. 

These funds will be put toward my therapy and medical costs, and lastly toward school related costs.

[themintycupcake]

Christians hate when a gay man goes “fuck it, I’ll gladly go to Hell if you want me to so bad” because it takes the edge away from their tools of fear. If they can’t scare you with threats of eternal damnation then one of their main weapons is taken away.

[f1rstperson]

[thatlesbiancrow]

calling out @brightismarstonight because yes

[themintycupcake]

“You’re supposed to fear your father/parents” this isn’t the first time I’ve seen someone say that someone told them this in the tags. Christianity as an institution is one of the biggest shelters for abusers out there and this shit right here is how they do it.

[sin-i-gang]

@ all the Christians on here talking abt how “real” Christians are different bc something something bible verse

[kittykatninja321]

My hypothesis is that in like 10 years gen z is gonna have a big cult boom the way the boomers did in the 70s

[chazymandias]

It’s already happening on tik tok. There’s a fun new thing going round that’s citing common symptoms of depression and anxiety as signs you’re about to have your awakening and that you are actually an alien and the reason you don’t feel right is because you’re home sick for your own galaxy. So that’s fun.

[aleatoryw]

agreed, and i don't mean this in a "haha gen z is so dumb they're gonna join a tiktok cult lmao" i mean that conditions are perfect for the formation of cults right now.

high unemployment and a lot of underpaying, pointless jobs = people are looking for things to do with their life, a purpose

skyrocketing cost of living = most young people will not be able to live on their own, meaning some will end up in a group living situation with people interested in recruiting them

it's a time of great cultural and political upheaval, nothing feels real, people are desperate for meaning and human connection. cults promise that

there is a new wave of acceptance and understanding for ways of life outside the norm, which is great! ...except for when cult leaders tell you abusive and controlling practices are just their culture, their religion, their lifestyle, their beliefs, their tradition, and if you disrespect it you are the problem

social media influencers have already shown us how easy it is to build a cult of personality and attract people from anywhere in the world who are interested in the exact brand you are selling

spirtuality is having a boom, as are things like astrology, crystals, tarot, meditation, energy... those things aren't bad on their own but they are often used as tools of cult spaces

wellness. i think a lot of people are already in wellness cults. you can make people do a lot of things in the name of "wellness" and a big factor of maintaining a cult is keeping members in a state of decreased cognition..... like say, with regular fasting

i think people are just unaware in general of how cults function, especially because the satanic panic was a big stupid false alarm that convinced the youths that dungeons and dragons or doom were gateways to cults, which are scary evil child murdering, satan-worshipping gangs. people don't know how to spot them in real life.

[apple-dandy]

So if that's the case everyone remember with me the cardinal rules of not getting cult'd

SOCIAL BUFFER: Learn what healthy social boundaries are and develop relationships which are within those boundaries.

Be wary of those who step on your or others' boundaries. Be there for your friends, but don't be their therapists or parents. Go get coffee or juice or snacks & chat casually with a friendly crew on a regular basis.

ESTEEM BUFFER. Recognize that you and every other person on this planet are owed a baseline of respect.

Respect means that what you wear, what/who you take interest in, and who/what you are are things which you decide on based on your own reasoning. If anyone is trying to change your mind, make sure to think critically about their side and decide for yourself whether you want to change. Ask: Why do they want you to change? Is that valid to your situation? Who / what would benefit from this change? Do you want them / it to benefit? Then decide for yourself.

RELAXATION BUFFER. Take time exclusively for yourself.

Take care of your body and mind when it needs to be fed, watered, washed, or nurtured. Have a couple hobbies that are just for you. Have more than one interest. Think about more than just one topic. Cults keep you focused on them to the exclusion of all else, so don't allow yourself to be blocked in.

BUBBLE POP BUFFER: Learn from multiple sources, even ones you don't like or respect.

Read multiple sources' versions of events before you decide what you feel about something. Recognize that not all sources are valid, but understand what those invalid sources are trying to do. Are they misguided or malicious? Who are THEIR sources? What is the agenda? Who benefits? Why would they want to say what they're saying? Do they have a point? Who pays them? What do they care about? Then make your decision.

BEWARE THE B.I.T.E.: Cults control people via Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotion control. BITE

Look up the BITE model and consider it against groups you wish to join / have joined.

Remember. You are the arbiter of your mind.

You have the blessing and burden of making your own decisions. Other people who will love and care about you throughout your life will want you to think for yourself and will think for themselves.

You are not alone. You are worthwhile. Your thoughts are your own and you have every right to control them yourself.

[phiix]

what do you mean u don't believe in the concept of virginity?

Nobody’s dick is important enough to change any part of my identity

[flowisaconstruct-deactivated202]

Imagine if we attached this level of importance to the first time you tried anything. 

“Ohhh, wowwww. You finally had paella?!? Do you feeel different? How was it? Tell me every little dirty detail! When are you going to do it again?”

[thehmn]

[rat2rrj]

Bruh this blew my other eyes clean open

[secretlycrazyhummingbird]

…how many eyes do you have

[redpandarascal]

If you find the military has left out pamphlets, you take them all and throw them away.

did this at a local comic book store once! Fuck that comic book store, it’s a creepy and bad place

[redpandarascal]

this goes for if you see anything promoting the Shen Yun dance troup. That is a recruiting point for a cult called Falun Gong.

same goes for if you see anything promoting Mormonism or Scientology, although I haven’t seen materials for those things personally, I’m sure they exist

If you are invited to a Christian group that “doesn’t have a name”, something that holds meeting for outsiders in rec centers, “special meetings”- that’s a cult that is know to members only as “The Truth”, but is on Wikipedia as “two by twos”. Please reach out to me if you or anyone you love has been contacted by this group.

Institutions of abuse are everywhere. Do everything within your power to stop them whenever you see an opportunity. If you see a sign in your rec center that’s some sort of open call to a Christian church meeting but doesn’t have any real info on the church, maybe let me know. Don’t call the number, I can call the number. If you feel the need to do research on your own, all you need to check is whether they refuse to give you a straight answer about the name.

[redpandarascal]

oh yeah, if you want context for “The Truth” being something I’m talking about that you have certainly never heard of, where I’m getting this information- the source is that I was raised in this cult. I know it sounds, almost fake or something, but it isn’t.

[redpandarascal]

just want to say it’s decent as fuck of y’all to reblog this. it’s hard for me to talk about this stuff and harder if I feel like no one is listening. Thank you all for making me feel like someone hears this stuff sometimes.

[whitepeopletwitter]

[space-madge]

[trainthief]

It’s Mormon conference weekend, which happens twice a year, and is when all the Mormons stay in and listen to new talks given by their leaders all day long on Saturday and Sunday. It’s consequently also a very scary time for the gay community in Utah, and the whole weekend we often send and receive lots of texts checking in, making sure everyone’s okay, asking if they’ve heard the latest awful talk condemning us. There’s real world applications to everything that happens there. Parents are “moved” to disown their children, coworkers and friends and neighbors are reminded to Other us and treat us accordingly. Suicide rates increase significantly. I remember the year after they announced children of gay parents would have to formally disown them before they’d be welcome in the church, and for two weeks afterward a group chat updated the gay community in my area almost every day with a handful of names who were not longer with us. A talk just concluded that said confusing both your gender identity and your gender role is the influence of Satan, which is deeply harmful to young trans kids and to young women. This isn’t a fun or sexy post for your timeline it just sucks and I hate Mormons and I can feel how difficult this next week is going to be as a result.

[trainthief]

I just… I know it’s easy to just joke about Mormons and consider them harmless cause Utah is just one state and who lives there?? But like, I do. And lots of gay and trans people do, as well as poc, and young women who have had their whole lives and concepts of self defined by this bullshit. It’s the popular culture and it’s the state laws and it’s everything it’s not just something people do in Sundays. A friend of mine went on a Mormon mission and realized he was gay after he’d been having psychosomatic seizures. For four months. Because he’d been trained to repress it so well. Like you all KNOW it’s important to me to love and respect all religions but that’s not a fucking religion they’re absolutely evil and making millions of dollars off of this shit and it makes me so mad.

[nultemp]

as someone who lives in the capital of utah and is surrounded and well educated on the mormon church i can say with no hyperbole it is a cult motivated by money, it is terrifying the influence they have on everything from laws to culture in utah and the conference was very anti lgbt focused, be there for your utahn friends

[brunhiddensmusings]

reminder that the mormons have declared war on the united states multiple times, are aggressively recruiting when and wherever they can to the point leaving utah to go as a conversion missionary is considered an inherent part of graduation and often a prerequisite for employment, have a frightening level of indoctrination that includes attacking anyone who leaves like just shy of scientologist ‘i need a lawyer to leave this religion’ levels of what the fuck universities in utah have actual classes for women to learn how to be housewives, that level of dystopia

[siristaci]

Actually, you do need a lawyer to leave. See quitmormon.org.

[uponmelancholyhell]

so apparently cultcore is a thing now?

i feel like that HAS to be mostly made up of edgy teenagers trying to find some sort of dark community to be a part of, like i can’t wrap my head around an actual adult person being into cultcore?? what kind of bullshit?

and yet i know that there ARE adults in the cultcore community. and probably just a lot of people who’ve never stopped to think about what the implications of such a community are. so here’s a brief explanation for why this shouldn’t be a thing!

cults are very very real, and cult survivors are way more common than one would think. cults aren’t how the media portrays them to be, all weirdly glamorous and full of powerful evil forces. they turn people’s lives inside out and mentally torture and brainwash people so that they can never lead normal lives without intense therapy ever again. a lot of people are so deeply financially or socially entrenched in their communities that they can never leave. it’s a miserable and very real existence, it’s not creepy or edgy, it’s just very draining and ugly.

i grew up in a cult myself, and while I’d never speak for another person, it seems other survivors feel the same in that we aren’t happy about this romanticization of our trauma. please stop joking about cults if you’ve never been in one yourself, you don’t understand how painful or misguided your humor can be. if you’re going to continue engaging in the cultcore stuff on here, PLEASE tag ur posts with “cult tw”, for the sake of those of us who are trying to heal from our trauma or trying to find other people with similar experiences.

[maythephorcebewithyou]

To anyone who's been fucked up by religion:

Your body does not belong to god, it belongs to you

Human sexuality and sensuality is not a sin, its beautiful

Nobody on earth is better than anyone else, were all just trying our best

You deserve love no matter what you do

❤❤❤stay strong